My interest in coins and coin-collecting began when I was young. Back then my focus was on circulating coins - the idea that you might be walking around with a simple coin in your pocket that was worth a fortune was fascinating to me (the 1955 double-die obverse was my first interest).

I also had a God-father who gave me a silver dollar for every Christmas and birthday when I was young (I kept them in a Whitman folder - probably 20 or more of them, dating from the 1870's through the 1930s - but they were accidently left behind when we moved my father out of the house we grew up in a few years back... I hid them too well and then forgot them until it was too late).

Then for a long time I lost interest, until my mother-in-law started buying proof sets and other proof coins from the U.S. Mint for her grandchildren. She kept them in her possession, but had each child's name on a sticker indicating which set was meant for which grandchild. When she passed away, the task of cataloging and distributing those coins fell to me, along with cataloging her informal and poorly-kept collection of circulating coins. That got me interested again.

We've tried to carry on the tradition, buying uncirculated and proof coin sets for the grand-nieces and grand-nephews for Christmas, and for birthdays we used to give them a new era American Eagle Silver Dollar minted for that year, until the price of silver put those coins out of reach as birthday gifts for so many. Now we give them five $2 bills to spend any way they want!